Playing A Game Control PC

Control is pretty weird. Not in a bad way - like I complained Kentucky Route Zero was - but in a fascinatingly surreal, unsettling-yet-intriguing way. Like the best episodes of The X-Files or The Twilight Zone.

Oh! It's also a video game.

Much more so than Alan Wake, whose ... flashlight thing never grabbed me, Control pulled me in with interesting gameplay right away. And what makes that gameplay resonate is that it works so well with Control's weird theme and narrative: mission objectives delivered from the astral plane, levels that teleport you through a ghostly motel, an ability that lets you telekinetically toss around chairs and photocopiers, et cetera.

Combat, in which you use your mystical handgun (as well as said chair-tossing) to whittle down enemies' health bars, is simple enough to be immediately accessible -- but still dynamic enough, with diverse enemies requiring varied tactics, to stay interesting as the game proceeds. Well, some encounters keep spawning enemies for too long, and it can be irritating when you're badly hurt but have to fight for health pickups; but it's mostly a fun time.

Control even manages some Metroid-ey free-roaming world design, with locked rooms and out-of-reach passages that you'll need to revisit later with future upgrades. Although the map does a kinda poor job of showing those paths, and actually, most of them don't open up until near the end of the game anyway.

At the end of the day, though, it's the thematic integration of Control's features - how office doors require a security clearance, and level terrain shifts and twists around paranormal events, and "lore" collectibles play at the Federal Bureau of Control's involvement in real-life history (like Havana syndrome) - that really make it shine.

And as dark and ominous as Control can be, it's also not afraid to have fun with itself.

Control is unapologetically strange, it's often oppressively creepy, and it's overall ... well, weird. But in a good way, that's enticing and kept me engaged for its duration.

Better than: Alan Wake, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Not as good as: Horizon Zero Dawn
A more compelling story, but less immersive side-quests, than: Ghost of Tsushima

Progress: Finished all of the base game's missions.

Rating: Awesome